


See the sun again

by Valaena_the_Historyteller1



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, PrisonerZuko, Violence, blind!Zuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valaena_the_Historyteller1/pseuds/Valaena_the_Historyteller1
Summary: After the fateful Agni Kai with his Father, Zuko is blinded and sent to an earthbender prison in the Colonies. Ozai wanted him to quietly die in prison, but, after three years of torment, a young waterbender possing as an earthbender arrived at the prison, setting it´s inhabitants free. And now, faced with his Father´s worse enemy, Zuko will have to choose the path he will take from now on. The avatar has woken up in the world again to face his country. Will he help?
Comments: 23
Kudos: 400





	See the sun again

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! I have been reading a lot of this fanfics lately and wanted to write one myself, so... hope you like it!!
> 
> The thing here is that Zuko was blinded by his father after the Agni Kai, deemed useless after the injury and sent to the same prison ship Haru and his dad were in until the Gaang freed him. He also knows that Avatar Roku was his great grandfather because Ursa told him before leaving. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!!

“You!! Come up here, boy!!” the captain called Zuko, who stopped showing more coal into the pit to go where the guards where. The warden showed something into his hands which he recognized as a kettle… a tea kettle. “Heat it, boy!!”

Without a sound, Zuko started to heat the tea for the guards, wondering how much harder his life was going to get. Harder than when his father took everything away from him? Maybe, he wasn´t sure it could get worse. That fateful Agni Kai three years ago robbed him of what remained of his childhood, his innocence and… and his eyes. All because his father decided that he should pay the ultimate price for disrespecting him. Oh, yes, the life of Prince Zuko, already horrible before, took a turn for the worse when he was twelve. From the pampered, ignored son of the Fire Lord, to the banished, blind prisoner in that little Earth Colony prisoner camp.

“Faster, boy!!”

“Yes, Sir” he answered, praying to Agni that this would end soon. In another life, no low prison guard would dare to land a finger on him, but his father sent special instructions to squash the desire to life out of him, blind disgrace he now was. The special treatment included being sent to a prison outside the Fire Nation, in the colonies, full of earthbenders that would threat him even worse than the guards, so he would have no one.  
But there was a good thing about being sent to a prison of earthbenders. After some months, he had realised that some of them, the older ones, were blind like him, and used their bending as some sort of extension of their senses, so the firebenders didn´t know. With that in mind, he managed to create his own form of the art, sensing the heat waves in the air. He felt so proud when he was able to pass a whole day without colliding with something in an entire year… uncle Iroh would be so proud of him…

Uncle Iroh… he missed him the most out of his entire family. Well, him and his mother and Lu Ten… but two of them disappeared of his live even before he lost his sight, so they didn´t really count. The death can´t help him now, the live could. And uncle Iroh would. He was sure of that. 

“Sir” one of the captains interrupted the warden´s tea. “A new shipment of earthbenders is due to arrive anytime today, you should go to the port to give them the introductory speech… or should I do it?”

“No, it´s okay, captain. I will be there shortly” he drank his tea calmly, landing then his eyes on Zuko. “Why are you still here, boy? Get back to work before you land yourself in isolation again!!”

“Yes, sir” Zuko made a show of trying to get out of there, knowing that the warden enjoyed when he struggled to get himself everywhere, as if he still were a new blind person knowing the dark world. Anyway, Zuko managed to get himself without mayor problems to the coal pits and started to showel coal again. Just in time to see the new earthbenders walk into the prison. One of the recently captured inmates went towards a girl with bright blue eyes, taking her to the leader of the inmates. Great, another person to hate him. 

On the other side of the view, Katara was talking to Haru and his father, trying to convince them to fight for their freedom. Thyro considered surviving was more important, so he didn´t take any action even if Katara tried to incite the rebellion, much to her anger. And the earthbenders followed him without fault. The angered waterbender ended up showeling coal alone, trying to swallow her anger and think a plan.

“Hey… Katara” Haru approached her. “I´m sorry that my father disappointed you, but he is right. We need to survive, there is no chance we win against the soldiers without any earth near by…”

“So you surrender?! And don´t put a fight, hoping that they would let you live after you have done their dirty work?!”

“Katara, don´t take it out on me. I´m not the bad one here, you know?” the male approached her more, now lowering his voice to a whisper. “I didn´t just want to talk to you about that. I must warn you about someone” now Katara was interested. “You see that boy showelling coal, the one in the red uniform? He is a firebender.”

“What?!”

“Shhhh” Haru looked around, nervous. “Yes, he is a fire nation prisoner. My father said that he arrived three years ago. No one knows why they sent a firebender to an earthbender prison, but it could be anything good. Most of the prisoners here are sure that he is here to spy on us for the warden…”

“Why would he need that if you are already defeated?”

“I don´t know, just… be careful around him” Katara nodded, glaring in the direction of the firebender. The boy didn´t seem to care, going where the guards told him to go, always moving his hands in an erratic way while he did so. One time he even collided with her, making her anger even more. “Watch it!!”

“I´m sorry” he apologized, showing Katara his burnt eyes. Normally she would feel pity for someone with that kind of injury, but firebenders were a special case. She didn´t feel sorry for whatever happened to him. “I was going to the warden to…”

“To give him information about some poor soul that´s going to end up in isolation?”

“I was going to say heat his afternoon tea, but whatever” Zuko got up, careful not to touch her. The waterbender let him pass, ready to snap if it was needed. “You know, those earthbenders need more than just a bit of encouragement to rebel. They need to feel in their element again, to feel something that resembled earth and give them the power to defend themselves. And empower themselves.”

“Who asked you?”

“No one did, but keep that in mind. Maybe you will get us all out of here” Katara looked at him in be wonderment. What was he meaning? “You didn´t think I might want to get out of here? I… I have a family out there I want to see… or I think so.”

“No one asked you either” Katara said before returning to the coal. Later, in the middle of the night, she remembered what the firebender commented and gave the idea to Sokka and Aang. These ones were not so convinced, but decided to get along with it. And just as the boy said, the earthbenders did revolt when they were given the coal.

“For the Earth Kingdom!!!”

“For the Earth Kingdom!!!”

“Come on, let´s escape on the ship!!”

-Later-

“My mother´s necklace!!” Katara screamed when she noticed her neck was bared. She started looking around to see if any of the former prisoners found it, but no one seemed to know where it was. 

“Were you looking for this?” the firebender boy said, handing over the necklace. Katara just took it back, giving him a glare. Sokka was tense when he noticed it was the special prisoner his sister warned them about earlier, thinking he was about to do something evil to them. Aang, for his part, only had eyes for the terrible scars he had around his eyes. A sudden surge of anger so great that he barely managed to get it in control before going into avatar state appeared inside of him, surprising the airbender. What was happening? The other teen didn´t seem to have caught either thing and simply retired.

“Wait!” Aang stopped him. Something related to this boy was affecting him… or a part of him he was normally not in touch with. “Who are you?”

“Zuko” something stirred again inside of him. A memory that was not his flashed in front of his eyes, a little girl in diapers laughing. “I don´t want to have troubles, I will just… go away as soon as we take port.”

“We should take him to the closest command post of the Earth…”

“No! they crush firebenders hands!!” Zuko took a step back. “Please, I only want to get back home and search for my uncle” he didn´t even know where to start looking for Iroh, but Caldera could be a good place to start. “I… I will go away, I swear…”

“I don´t trust you”

“Throw him overboard”

“Yes!!!”

“No” Aang stepped in for the firebender, defending him. He didn´t know why, but he felt somewhat protective over him. “He comes with us. I´m the Avatar, I can keep a simple firebender under control.”

“What?! You are going to have HIM travelling with us?!” Katara reacted.

“Wait, you are the Avatar?” the former prince intervened before the waterbender could start to scream. “Like the Avatar Roku?”

“It´s Avatar Aang now, but…”

“No, it´s not like that… it´s just that… emmm… Avatar Roku was my great grandfather” everybody froze over when they heard that. Aang stared at the teenager in front of him as if he was a ghost. He was Roku´s great grandson? Roku had a great grandson? 

“Don´t believe him, he is obviously lying” Sokka said.

“I don´t think so” Aang said.

“Come on, Aang, he is a firebender. They always lie! And even if he is not, he surely has been raised to be a perfect little soldier to the Fire Nation” Katara glared at the other teen. “Stop trying to confound him.”

“I´m not trying to do anything, I just want to find my way back home”

“Guys, guys, stop. We can´t determinate the truth or falsity of his claims” the Avatar separate the girl from the blind teenager. “He comes with us anyway, I can´t leave someone like him go around the world alone in good conscience.”

“I´m not helpless”

“He is coming with us. And it´s final!!” 

-some time after, in the Hei Bai village-

“So… you saw Roku in the spirit world?” Sokka asked while they took a meal. Zuko was across him, eating as quietly as he could. As always. “And what did he say?”

“A lot of things” the Avatar turned to the firebender. “He confirmed what you said when we left the prison in the sea.”

“That he is not helpless and it´s okay to leave him fend on his own?” Katara said hopefully. 

“No, that… that he is Roku´s great grandson” Aang stared at the other with a sad look. He hadn´t met any descendants of another Avatar… from his other incarnations. He knew Kyoshi had a daughter, of course, and others had families, but… Zuko was the first one he met face to face. And the anger he felt… he realised now that the anger came from the part of him that was Roku. “He was worried about you, Zuko.”

“He and my uncle would be the only ones then”

“Oh, yeah, that uncle of yours… is he also a descendant of Avatar Roku?”

“No, he is my father´s brother and I´m a descendant of Roku from my mother´s side” he said, keeping hidden the fact that his uncle was the Dragon of the West and his Father the Fire Lord. “You should reassure him. All of you have seen that I´m perfectly capable of taking care of myself”

“It´s not just that” Aang said, a little bit frustrated. His first encounter with Roku was interested, but his feelings of failure along with his last incarnation were killing him. “Did… did they do that to your eyes because of Roku?”

“My eyes? No, it was for cowardice”

“Cowardice?” Katara mocked. 

“I talked out of tone to one of my father´s men and he challenged me to an Agni Kai, which is a traditional duel between firebenders. Normally you aren´t allowed to participate in one until you are sixteen, but my father never cared for that. I thought I was going to have to fight that old man, but… but when I turned to fight, my father was there” he shook his head, remembering one of his last moments with sight. “I bowed and apologized, but he considered it cowardice, so… so he burned my eyes. The last thing I remember ever seeing was my father smiling as he burned me.”

“What?” Sokka asked in disbelieve. “Your dad did that?”

“Yes, he did” Zuko nodded. “That´s why I´m not thinking of returning to him”

“I guess that´s usual in Fire Nation, no?” Katara started talking, a bit cruel. “In a Nation full of evil makers and incendiaries, surely a lot of people ends up like you…”

“Not as many as you think” Aang was surprised at how calm the firebender was, especially as they were talking about his own unfortunate blindness. “Normally Agni Kais end with someone getting burned, yes, but not in the eyes. Or at least not a mark like this and specially not when the opponent has surrendered before it even started.” He touched his eyes. “Cruelty like this is usually frowned upon.”

“Was it frowned upon by the people who saw the duel?” the Avatar asked.

“No, they smiled. My uncle was the only one who thought it was a cruelty” Zuko sighed. “I guess you were right when you said my nation has a lot of monsters.”

“Yes… wait” Sokka then realised something even more disturbing than the blatant cruelty of older men smiling at a boy getting blinded. “You said you had to be sixteen to be allowed to fight an Agni Kai, but you were younger? How old are you?”

“I´m sixteen” the boy in question answered, rendering the others speechless. Aang also felt something else stir inside of him, something… entirely Roku. Sixteen. Zuko has spent three years in the metal prison, which meant that he had been blinded at thirteen. And the last memory that was probably burned in his now useless retinae was his father laughing after marring his son. “What?”

“At least tell me you are about to turn seventeen”

“No, my birthday was last month, as I was born in the middle of the monsoon season” Zuko sensed something in the way the others were moving. And the heat from their bodies, even Katara´s… “What?”

“Dude, you had a messed up live” Sokka said. “No wonder your great grandfather was worried about you even though he reincarnated.”

“I don´t see how his worry could have changed anything. He couldn´t interfere.”

“But… I can do something for him. And for you. I know you want to leave our groups, but…” Aang talked again. “Come with us, at least until we arrive to the Northern Water Tribe. I heard from the monks that they have incredible healers there. One might even find some way to heal your eyes.”

“My eyes don´t have a cure, it´s burned beyond repair. Besides, I doubt the water tribe will help a firebender.”

“In that we are of the same opinion”

“Katara!!”

“You only have a soft spot for him because he is the descendant of another Avatar!!” the girl stood up, glaring at the oldest teen in the group. “I know that Roku helped us a lot in the spirit world and I thank him for that, but that doesn´t mean we have to babysit his great grandson, especially if it´s a firebender!!”

“I don´t need a babysitter”

“But I will eventually need a firebending teacher” Aang reminded all of them. “So… how about this? We convince the Water Tribe to treat Zuko and, in exchange, he teaches me to firebend.”

“I don´t know, I was never a good firebender. I didn´t got past the basic katas before I lost my sight and, even if I were to recover it, I barely remember a few of them. I couldn´t possibly teach you…”

“Then he is useless, let´s split as we were planning”

“Katara!!”

-In the North Pole-

“My old friend, it has been years” Pakku received Iroh in the middle of the snow and ice, far away from the Tribe. The old general smiled at his friend, then pat his bag, the one that contained the legacy he wanted to pass to Zuko when he found him. “How have you been? Have you managed to find that missing nephew of yours?” 

“No, my brother has buried his location under a ton of lies and every lead I find it´s a dead end Ozai created to divert me… or for his sick entertainment” the Dragon of the West looked into the horizon. “It worries me, Pakku. That boy is alone in the world, he only has me…”

“My old friend, you must not lose hope. You will find him with good” the waterbender guided him towards a third figure which was waiting for them in a block of ice. “You haven´t forgotten Yugoda, no?” he introduced this person, as the healer smiled kindly. “She has made some advances in your special petition.”

“So…”

“I don´t know, it´s an old injury, which meant it will be hard to heal, but I have this” Yugoda held a little container full of water. A very special kind of water that practically shone with power. “It took me a lot to have. It´s water from the spirit oasis, with this I might be able to cure your nephew´s blindness.”

“Thank Agni, Tui and La for that” Iroh sighed. Now he only had to find Zuko alive and everything will be fine. 

“Thank you” he bowed to the woman, then turned to Pakku. “There is going to be an invasion soon. The recently appointed Admiral Zhao… well, he hasn´t changed since he was training with Jeong Jeong. The man is just as undisciplined and chaotic as ever… just with more power.”

“Do you know what his plans and intentions are?”

“No, but I´m going to find out” Iroh said. “I´m going to offer myself as a war assessor. In his hubris, the man is going to accept and give me clearance to the intel we need to frustrate his plans.”

“Great plan, my friend” the waterbender nodded. “By the way, did you heard the news? Apparently, the Avatar has returned to this world.”

“So I have heard” and with this, the Dragon of the West abandoned the North Pole.

**Author's Note:**

> How do you think it was? Leave your reviews!!


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